Drop wire



Aug. 23, 1932. i v, PAYNE 1,873,466

" DR'OP WIRE Filed July 9, 1950 17v VEN 7'01? 175cm? V. PA Y/VE A77'UR/VEY5 Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE OSCAR V. PAYNE, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CROMPTON &

KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS DROP WIRE Application filed July 9, 1930. Serial No. 466,706.

This invention is a continuation in part of" my co-pending application Ser. No. 350,401

and is concerned more particularly with the drop wire used in the electrical warp stop motion shown in said application.

7 The warp stop motion to which my invention relates has a contact bar extending through slots in their upper portions of the drop wires. The bar is formed of two electrodes one of which is grounded and actsas an inclosing support forthe live electrode 1nsulated therefrom. I find it convenient to locate the exposed surface of the live electrode within the outline of the grounded elec- 5 trod-e, this construction requiring a lateral is the chance that one drop wire will move into the slot of an adjacent wire and support the latter even though itswarp be defective. The harnessing of the warp requires that certain threads and their drop wires be raised while others are depressed. At the beat-up of the lay all of the threads aresubjected to a temporary increased tension which may result in a slight upward movement of the drop wires, some of them moving farther than others. In each of these instances a condition exists which permits drop wires to become interlocked. Also, at the time of warp fault the drop wire of thedefectivethread will be down on the bar, but will be raised when the weaver corrects the fault, and this raising might cause interlocking.

Various attempts have been made to form drop wires either with rounded tops or with extended upper ends in order to prevent the interlocking. The drop wire must always be so proportioned that the major part of its weight lies below the surface'which rests on the warp in order to retain the drop wire in upright position, and this consideration limits the height of the solid part of the drop wire above the'slot. It'is an important ob ject of my present invention to place the previously mentioned lobes in such aposition that when a drop wire is in the lowest positionit can occupy the upper end thereof will be in alignment horizontally withthe lobe of an adjacent elevated drop wire. In this way I prevent a low drop wire from having an pass into the slotof the Fig. 1 showing the relation between the contact bar'and two drop wires one of which is indicated raised in full lines and the other down in dotted lines; V

As shown in Fig. 1 a threaded supporting rod R has strung th-erealong a plurality of supporting and spacing units 10 the right hand one of which may be engaged by a nut 11 on the rod effective-to clamp said units against an end plate 12 movement to the left of which is resisted by nut 13 on the rod, Each contact bar, designated generallyat B, has an outer inclosingshe'ath or grounded V electrode 14: having a vertical'wall 15 in which is formed a longitudinally extending rib 16. The top and bottom edges of the grounded electrode are bent horizontally and then downwardly and upwardly, respectively, as at'17 and 18, to define grooves between which are located the upper and lower ends of alive electrode 19. The latter has a contact surface 20 which lies within the outline of the grounded electrode, that is, aline joining the right hand surfaces of the bent ends 17 and 18 as shown in Fig. 2 will pass to'th-e right of the surface 20. Suitable insulating material may be provided to maintain the electrodes in electrical separation.-

The matter already described is substantially the same as that set forth in my aforesaid application andso far as this invention is concerned it is significant to note that the top foloed over edge 17 of the grounded electrode projects beyond the :live surface QO, so

i that access to the latter by a bodyfalling past said grounded edge 17 is afforded onlyv by a lateral motion to the left as viewed in Fig. 2 on the part of the falling body. a i

The drop wire D forming the, subject mattereof my present invention has an open slot in the-bottoin ,portion thereof'to receive a Warp thread and has a'closed slot 31 in the by walls. 36 and 37, respectively, whilethe.

upper part thereof,fthere being a hole 32 punched between said slots for the purpose of reducing the weight of the drop wire. The slot 31 has lower and upperportions 33 and 34:, respectively, which are separated by lobes or similar inwardly extending camming projections .35. The right and lefthand edges of the lower part of the slot may be defined corresponding walls'of the upperpartBt may be defined by walls 38 and 39, respectively. The walls 37 and 39 are in alignment, though not necessarily so, and this relation is also truevof the wallsi36and 38. It is important to note,.however, that the space between the upper walls 38 and 39 is greater than the dis tance separating. nearest parts of the right and left hand lob es as designatedby points 4:0 and 41, respectively.

In operation', the warp vv will'normally support the drop wireso that th-e'lobes are above the top edge of the bar, thereby keeping the'surface 20 electrically separated from the grounded electrode, When'a dropvvire falls the lobe having point 11, f'or'in'stance, will engage the rib 16 to" move the drop wire to, the'left, the corresponding point lO offthe rical about a horizontal aXis passingthrough them, but this is not a necessary relation.

From an inspection of Fig. 2 it will be seen that when a drop wire, such as the one indicated in dotted lines, is in the lowest position which it can occupy beoauseof the engagement with the detector barfthe top edge 50 thereof will lie opposite portions of the lobes 35 and the laterally offset position of the detector which might otherwise permit it to becomeinterlocked with the ad'acent 'dro wire shown raised in full lin'es,is prevented by said lobes. As the weaver ties a broken warp there is therefore no likelihood that the corresponding drop wire will become entangled with either of the drop wires adj acent thereto as it is raised.

From the foregoing it "Willfb seen that have provided a drop wire for anelectrical warp stop motion so proportioned that it may have the necessary lateral movement to electrically connect the'insulated electrodes of the bar, It will also be seen that the lobes which act to eflecta lateral movement of onedrop wire will in another drop wire occupy ahigher position and serve tofprevent interlocking of the drop wires. 7

I-Iavingthus described my invention it will be, seen that changes and 'modifications'may be made" therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and -sco e ofthe invention and I do'not wishto e limitedto the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is: v Y

A drop wire for an electrical warp stop motion having a contact bar, said drop wire having a closed slot formedin. its upper end portion and having a pair of substantially opposite circuit-closing lobes projecting into said slot from each side thereof and intermediate the'ends thereof, the lower edge-portions of both lobes being upwardly and inwardly inclined to facilitate a circuit-closing movement, and the adjacent edges of said lobes being substantially separated to permit portions'of said contact bar to. pass upward V lobes before a circuit is closed 7 between said thereby.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed signature. V

" f ,OSCAR PAYNE;

through'the opposite lobe and rib16, to the V grounded electrode.-

The drop wireis preferably symmetrical about itsverti'cal central axis so that it may be threaded or strung on the barwith either the wall 36 orthe wall 37 to the right, and

' the points 40 and ll'are preferably inhoriz'ontal alignment when the drop wire is up} right. As shownhereinthe lobes are symmet; y 

